Central America
Ortega a shoo-in in ‘sham’ Nicaragua vote
AFP
Nicaraguans go to the polls Sunday for presidential elections dismissed as a “sham” by the international community, with all viable challengers to long-term leader Daniel Ortega locked up or in exile.
As Ortega, 75, prepared to claim a fourth consecutive term — his fifth overall — the United States described Nicaragua as a “cautionary tale” with a regime “determined to hold on to power at any cost.”
“It will be quite clear that these elections will have no credibility, that they’re a sham,” Patrick Ventrell, the US State Department’s Central American Affairs director said Thursday.
“We are going into a scenario where you have a dictatorship, and we’ll have to respond to such.”
Just over three years after massive protests against his rule and a violent crackdown that claimed more than 300 lives, Ortega is assured another five-year term with his wife and vice-president, Rosario Murillo, 70, by his side.
Seven people who had any real shot at the presidency are among 39 opposition figures detained in a brutal government clampdown that started in June.
Ortega, the leader of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), faces five opponents, though in name only — all are derided as regime collaborators.
The vote in Central America’s poorest country will take place without international observers and with most foreign media denied access to the country.
Nicaragua’s last opposition daily, La Prensa, had its director thrown in prison in August, and Facebook announced this week it had closed a government-operated troll farm spreading anti-opposition messages.
Amid the suppression, fear vies with apathy among Nicaragua’s 4.3 million eligible voters. Voting is not mandatory in the country of 6.5 million.
“There is no one to vote for. Daniel (Ortega) has it in the bag,” a 46-year-old woman told AFP at her home in Masaya, 35 kilometers (20 miles) south of the capital Managua.
She asked not to be named. “One cannot talk. You’ll go to jail,” she said.
– All sewn up –
A firebrand Marxist in his youth, Ortega ruled Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, after the guerrilla ousting of US-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle.
Returning to power in 2007, he has won reelection three times, becoming increasingly authoritarian and quashing presidential term limits.
Two-thirds of respondents in a recent Cid-Gallup poll said they would have voted for an opposition candidate on Sunday.
The favorite was Cristiana Chamorro, daughter of Violeta Barrios de Chamorro who is the only person to have beaten Ortega in an election, in 1990.
But Chamorro is under house arrest, and six other presidential hopefuls are behind bars in conditions their family members say amount to torture.
The jailed opposition figures are accused of unspecified attacks on Nicaragua’s “sovereignty” under a law passed by a parliament dominated by Ortega allies, who also control the judicial and electoral branches.
Election authorities have banned the country’s main opposition alliance, Citizens for Freedom, from contesting Sunday’s vote, just like in 2016 when Ortega won unopposed.
Three political parties and dozens of civic organizations are prohibited.
– ‘A complete sham’ –
A grouping of Nicaraguan and international NGOs this week urged the United Nations to investigate “gross human rights violations” under Ortega’s rule.
“Ortega will continue in power… and the repression against those who defend human rights and think differently to the regime will likely worsen,” said the group that calls itself Colectivo 46/2.
Apart from about 150 political opponents known to be behind bars, more than 100,000 Nicaraguans are in exile to avoid arrest — mainly in Costa Rica, Miami and Madrid.
For Ortega — whose main allies are Venezuela, Cuba and Russia — his jailed critics are not political prisoners but “criminals” seeking to overthrow him with US backing.
– ‘Dictator’ –
The wave of arrests has worsened ties with the United States and European Union, who have imposed sanctions against Ortega family members and allies.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has branded Ortega a “dictator” staging “fake” elections, and on Wednesday, the US Congress approved a law to ramp up punitive measures.
In the United States, Europe and other Latin American countries, opponents of the Ortega regime are planning protests for Sunday and agitating for a boycott of the vote.
In Nicaragua itself, gatherings of more than 200 people are banned, ostensibly as a coronavirus prevention measure.
More than 30,000 police and military have been deployed to guard 3,000 polling stations.
Polls are due to open at 13H00 GMT (7:00 am) and close 11 hours later.
The results, predictable as they are, are expected the same day.
Central America
Honduras sees ongoing killings of land defenders and attacks on press, warns NGO
The Association for Participatory Citizenship (ACI PARTICIPA) denounced on Thursday that killings of land defenders and attacks aimed at silencing the press continue in Honduras.
“We continue to see murders of defenders of land and territory, as well as aggressions to silence the press. In 2024, there were 490 attacks and aggressions that constitute human rights violations,” said ACI PARTICIPA’s executive director, Hedme Castro, during the presentation of the 2024 Report on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders in Honduras.
Castro noted that the aggressions range “from attempts on lives, threats, harassment, intimidation, and smear campaigns, which have become very frequent, to obstruction of work, surveillance, and criminalization.”
She highlighted that, although only seven defenders were killed in 2024 compared to 24 in 2023, “last year we saw a significantly high number of women murdered, and cases of missing children.”
Moreover, Castro criticized the authorities for failing to address the violence. “There is no response from the authorities to reduce the violence in the country; in fact, I believe that the ‘fathers of the nation’ (members of Parliament) are not setting the right example, and the situation in the Legislative branch is actually fueling violence,” she added, referring to frequent violent incidents in Congress.
The ACI PARTICIPA report also notes that the government led by President Xiomara Castro has made “an important effort over the past two years to improve citizens’ access to basic rights, helping to cushion the effects of economic deterioration, although a decent standard of living has yet to be achieved for the majority of Hondurans.”
Central America
Daniel Ortega’s last historic sandinista ally detained in Managua
Former Sandinista revolutionary commander and presidential economic adviser Bayardo Arce Castaño was arrested on Thursday in Managua for alleged irregular transactions involving state-owned assets, according to local media reports.
The arrest was carried out by agents from the Special Operations Directorate of the Police, who raided his residence in the southern part of the Nicaraguan capital. The Attorney General’s Office (PGR) is investigating Arce for “transactions and/or negotiations” that, according to authorities, do not comply with current legal standards.
Arce, 76, was one of the nine historic commanders of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) who led the overthrow of dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979. Since 2007, he had served as the economic adviser to dictator Daniel Ortega, and was the last of the historic commanders still aligned with the regime.
The Attorney General’s Office accused Arce of contempt after he refused to appear for questioning about properties registered in his name. Authorities allege that Ricardo Bonilla, Arce’s assistant, was also involved in questionable financial dealings and was jailed after failing to comply with a summons.
Central America
Guatemala transfers top gang leaders to maximum security prison after funeral home massacre
At least 10 top leaders from the two main gangs operating in Guatemala were transferred in recent hours to a high-security prison, where they are now in isolation, following the murder of seven people at a funeral home on Tuesday night.
Guatemala’s Interior Minister Francisco Jiménez announced Thursday through official communication channels that the inmates moved are leaders of the Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha gangs, who, in his words, “believed they were untouchable.”
The prisoners were taken from several facilities to the Renovación I Maximum Security Detention Center, inaugurated under the current administration of President Bernardo Arévalo de León and located in the department of Escuintla, about 50 kilometers south of Guatemala City.
The transfer operation involved more than 800 National Civil Police (PNC) officers, who initially faced resistance from the inmates, Jiménez added.
The isolated Barrio 18 leaders include Aldo Duppie Ochoa Mejía (alias El Lobo), Wilder Rodríguez Aguilar, Mayro De León Hernández, Jarvin Leonel Itzoy Cruz, and Manuel de Jesús Rivas Granados.
Also transferred were Jair de León Hernández (alias El Diabólico), Amílcar Galileo Torres Rosales, Nixon Bantes González, Ronal Bosbeli Choc Alemán, and Ángel Gabriel Reyes Marroquín.
The move came after a massacre at a funeral home in the Guatemalan capital, allegedly carried out by members of Mara Salvatrucha while a wake was being held for a supposed Barrio 18 member murdered on Monday. The attack left seven dead and 12 injured.
Jiménez emphasized that the violence in Guatemala is driven by territorial disputes over street-level drug sales and warned: “We will not allow more victims to be created by this gang confrontation.”
Honduras sees ongoing killings of land defenders and attacks on press, warns NGO
Trump to build $200M ballroom at the White House by 2028
Daniel Ortega’s last historic sandinista ally detained in Managua
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Extension of the state of emergency approved in southern Chile
-
Central America3 days agoCosta Rica issues Yellow Alert and halts water activities over tsunami currents
-
Central America3 days agoFuneral turns tragic as armed attack leaves seven dead in Guatemala City
-
Central America4 days agoPeru’s ambassador highlights “historic bonds” with El Salvador on Independence Day
-
International5 days agoFour dead, thousands flee as floodwaters ravage Northern China
-
International5 days agoMultiple fatalities reported in Nevada Resort shooting as Police detain gunman
-
International4 days agoU.S. and China push for extension of tariff truce after “constructive” talks in Sweden
-
International3 days agoThree salvadorans in Florida sentenced in $146 million construction tax fraud scheme
-
International3 days agoKremlin hails preparedness after Kamchatka quakes leave no casualties
-
International4 days agoMedvedev warns Trump after new Ukraine ultimatum: ‘Russia is neither Israel nor Iran’
-
International4 days agoTrump administration opens civil rights probe into duke university over alleged bias
-
International5 days agoFive security guards killed in mass shooting at Bangkok Market
-
International5 days agoNetanyahu cites historic success against Iran as he pledges relentless Gaza campaign
-
International5 days agoZelensky praises Trump’s ‘clear stance’ on Russia as ultimatum deadline tightens
-
International3 days agoU.S. launches ads urging undocumented migrants to self-deport via CBP Home App
-
International4 days agoArgentina requests reentry into U.S. Visa Waiver Program during DHS chief’s visit
-
International5 days agoVatican reports $72M profit in 2024, boosted by real estate and investments
-
International5 days agoHepatitis D declared carcinogenic as WHO urges action to end global crisis
-
International5 days agoPeru’s president under fire as she promises crackdown on organized crime
-
Central America1 day agoDaniel Ortega’s last historic sandinista ally detained in Managua
-
International4 days agoPetro accuses Marco Rubio of undermining colombia’s sovereignty over Uribe comments
-
Central America1 day agoHonduras sees ongoing killings of land defenders and attacks on press, warns NGO
-
International1 day agoTrump to build $200M ballroom at the White House by 2028
-
Central America1 day agoGuatemala transfers top gang leaders to maximum security prison after funeral home massacre